The present invention relates to a recognition device for recognizing the shape and the position of an object and, more particularly, to such a recognition device which can be applied to automatic machines to render the machines operative for objects whose positions are indefinite and capable of correctly selecting a specific object to be processed from a group of objects.
Hitherto, a so-called flying spot scanner has been used as an object information input device for recognizing the shape and the position of an object.
This flying spot scanner operates to apply a single light beam to an object and then converts the light reflected by the object into an electric signal. The arrangement is such that the light beam scans a pattern sufficient to illuminate a wide space partially and successively, while the light-information receiving means are adapted to receive the reflected light non-directionally. Therefore, not only the reflected light caused by the scanning light beam but also the lights issued from other light sources, such as sunshine, are inconveniently received at the light-information receiving means. As a matter of fact, it is almost impossible to correctly discriminate the reflected light corresponding to the scanning light beam from other reflected lights. Thus, the conventional flying spot scanner can work satisfactorily only when the object and the light-information receiving means are maintained in a specific condition or circumstance such as in a shielded dark chamber and, therefore, such an arrangement has limited application.